


rack em up

by ghostsman



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Flirting, Fluffy, Groping, Kissing, Making Out, Pool & Billiards, Vampire Caroline Forbes, Werewolf Tyler Lockwood, Whiskey & Scotch, caroline is really good at pool, caroline wears leather jackets, damon ties cherries with his tongue, tyler is secure with his identity, tyler likes that, tyler likes that too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:40:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25796785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostsman/pseuds/ghostsman
Summary: Like clockwork, the blonde shows up around ten and hustles four people within the hour.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Tyler Lockwood
Kudos: 3





	rack em up

**Author's Note:**

> hey there! i wanted to dip my toes into this pairing before tackling some larger ideas...
> 
> AU where Tyler and Caroline have never met, Tyler's a werewolf, and Caroline's a vampire just passing through with her friends. They frequent the same bar.

Like clockwork, the blonde shows up around ten and hustles four people within the hour. 

Tyler Lockwood comes to the Roadhouse most Friday nights — to knock a few back and catch up with Mason. But for the last three weeks, there’s been newcomers in town and the blonde hasn’t had to buy a drink once. 

She’s got a set of teeth but he knows alcohol gets to them like any other being. The Roadhouse is the only bar in town that doesn’t spike with vervain; Mason had gotten tired of the light beers and the liquor store curfew so he set up shop outside of town, between the railroad and the fishing stream. It gets crowded around ten, rowdy after one. Everyone knows everyone around here. 

So when the three vampires walked in, they stick out. A leggy woman, a smirking brunette, and the blonde. 

“So what do you think?” he asks Mason, nodding behind his shoulder at the vampires by the pool table. They could hear him if they paid attention but he didn’t care. 

“They eat too many cherries.” Mason leans against the counter as he gets a look at that corner of the room. Shrugs, and continues cleaning a glass. 

“Not what I meant.” Crunching on the dregs of ice from his whiskey, he leans back against the bar on his elbows to see what the score is now. She’s cleaning up the fifth game with Alice, a werewolf from the next town over. Alice wasn’t the best loser ever, he could see the white of her knuckles as she lined up and sunk her stripe and cue ball in one go. Mason’s homemade don’t scratch sign right above her shoulder. 

The blonde was good, really good. She took her time with her shots, confident and focused but playful. She had the slow and measured step of a vampire but there was a lightness to her. When she moved it was hard for his eye not to follow. 

She didn’t gloat but she did do a small curtsy when Alice slammed the twenty-dollar bill on the table. 

“They tip and haven’t caused a fight which is more than I can say for the usual lot.”

“You get their names?”

“Caroline. Elena and Damon are the ones cozied up. They’re on a road trip. Hey, what if I had a BBQ on Sunday. You in?” Mason calls out his name but Tyler’s already up and off the barstool, making his way to the pool table. He waves at him without looking back, “Sure, yeah, I’ll bring potato salad.” 

Her friends look up as he approaches but they quickly find him uninteresting. The blonde, Caroline, drags her eyes from the table to him and stay there. 

He gives her a smile like it’s all friendly no worries here. Thumbs sticking out of his jean pockets, loose shoulders. “Is this the only bar game you’re good at?”

Her mouth falls open and her voice rings bright over the country music and laughter of the bar. “Excuse me?”

She’s got a glare on her and she’s frighteningly pretty up close. He raises his hands to mean no harm. “Hey, you come in and hog the table three Friday’s in a row, I think I have a right to know.”

“Maybe you’re hogging the bar!” Her jaw snaps shut and her blue eyes take their time moving up from his shoes. By then, she’s got her arms folded across her chest and a perfectly arched brow on her face. “If you wanted to play so bad, all you had to do was ask.”

He throws his head back and laughs. “I’ve seen the way you play. I’d rather just buy you a drink.”

“She sucks at darts,” her companion, Damon says. His mouth is puckered up but even his eyes are smirking at the two of them.

“Try not to choke, Damon.” Caroline slaps a hand to Damon’s chest. He coughs up a cherry stem onto the bar table. She gives Tyler a smile. “Whiskey, neat.”

He takes half a sip of his new drink before she’s racking them up and moving in to break. She’s wearing a leather jacket but he can still see the deep curve of her back as she lines her stick up. Two solids and one stripe sink in. 

“Solids,” she says sweetly. She unfolds herself back up and bats her blue eyes at him. “It’s really creepy that you’ve been watching me for weeks.”

“I could say the same for you, Caroline,” he points out. She comes around the table and pushes him to the side easily with one hand. “Well, Ty-ler. I was focused on other things, like winning.” 

The length of her arm is pressed up against his stomach. He can feel the tension in her arm as she cocks back and sinks another solid. Caroline looks up at him from her coiled position, a sharp grin unfurling from her lips. 

“I was focused too. On you.” He’s close enough to touch the tip of his finger to her forehead. A line forms predictably. “You get really intense when you’re winning. Your forehead makes a scrunch right here. It’s hot.” 

They’re close in height, he sees. The curl of her hair nearly rests on his shoulder. She’s got a nice flush across her cheekbones and his hands itch to touch there too. 

Caroline eyes him kind of judgingly and it goes straight to his gut. “You tug on your bottom lip too much. It’s distracting and we’re in a bar, who does that.” 

She’s staring at his mouth like she might punch it. 

He politely licks his lips. “God, tell me what you really think about my mouth.”

“It’s not bad.” 

“Elena, please shut up,” Caroline rolls her eyes. Elena shrugs and she feeds Damon another cherry. They continue playing footsies under the table. 

Caroline nearly clears the table and by the time he gets a turn, his drink is mostly water and he realizes he’s been staring at the bow of her mouth for the entire game. 

He makes a big show of stretching out his shoulders, jumping in place once, twice, before lining up his shot, taking a breath, and sinking his share. 

On a particularly hard shot where he has to reach with his left hand, he’s just about to rearrange when the presence of a body comes up behind him, a cool hand sliding over his to adjust the angle. Her other hand moves his hip to lean in more and Caroline’s voice in his ear, “You got the right idea.”

He misses and leans back. Caroline lines up her last shot and just before her cue stick connects, she keeps her eyes on him and says, “Corner pocket.”

Caroline is a gracious winner and doesn’t gloat but he does ask her to step outside. 

It’s humid outside and his t-shirt sticks to his back just as he takes a couple of steps out. But it doesn’t matter because Caroline slides her hand in his and drags him against the side of the building. Pushes him up against it until she can tilt her mouth into his. 

She kisses like she plays — focused and a little dirty. Her tongue opens his mouth up and he gets his hands under that jacket, flattens his palm against the delicious curve of her back until she’s pressed all along him. Her hair leaves traces along the skin of his jaw, his collarbone, and the top of his bicep. It keeps his hands moving and his mouth open for her. 

Tyler’s never had a thing for vampires. He always preferred women with dirt under their nails and the sun on their skin. But Caroline’s fingers dragged up his neck and into his hair, scratching into the skin as she went. When she moved down his neck, she sucked. 

“Jesus, Caroline,” he’s out of breath, between the heaviness in the air and the taste of her in his mouth. He’s got his hands cupping her ribcage with his thumbs just barely grazing softer flesh. 

She giggles in his neck like he isn’t shivering in ninety-degree heat. “You kiss better than you play.” 

He pulls her head back, kissing her jaw, her bottom lip, her top lip. Takes his time kissing her until she’s making breathy noises in his mouth and pushing him into the wall. With force too, she’s holding onto him tightly and she’s strong, maybe stronger than him. And when her nails touch the skin of his stomach, he fully groans. 

“Caroline.” 

They gasp apart and his eyes open to the fact that they were fully making out against his Uncle’s bar. Her friends are in their car, heads inclined that they’re leaving. 

Caroline flushes across her cheeks and he goes in to kiss each side, rubs a thumb along the bow of her lip. 

She backs away, a small smile playing on her lips. “Rematch next Friday?”

Tyler throws his head back for the second time that night and laughs. He’s shaking his head when he says, “How about tomorrow night?” 

Caroline’s voice cut through the thick night air, bright and cheery. “You’re on.”

**Author's Note:**

> Also, does anyone like a Caroline/Damon/Elena friendship?  
> Hope you enjoyed it! let me know what you guys think <3
> 
> come yell at me on tumblr /softknives


End file.
